Dezeen » residentialhttp://www.dezeen.com
architecture and design magazineTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:00:13 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Blackened timber reading room extends a coastal home in northern Francehttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/antonin-ziegler-blackened-timber-reading-room-cliffs-impasse-northern-france-home-house-extension/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/antonin-ziegler-blackened-timber-reading-room-cliffs-impasse-northern-france-home-house-extension/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 12:42:04 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=671721This blackened plywood box added by architect Antonin Ziegler to one end of a rural home on France's northern coast provides a private library and garage for its inhabitants (+ slideshow). Parisian architect Antonin Ziegler added the 60-square-metre reading room to an old stone house in Senneville-sur-Fécamp, a region on the coast of the English […]

This blackened plywood box added by architect Antonin Ziegler to one end of a rural home on France's northern coast provides a private library and garage for its inhabitants (+ slideshow).

Parisian architect Antonin Ziegler added the 60-square-metre reading room to an old stone house in Senneville-sur-Fécamp, a region on the coast of the English Channel in northern France.

Ziegler was commissioned to design the extension – named Cliffs Impasse after the property's clifftop location – to provide a home for the owner's expanding book collection.

The library walls are clad inside and outside in plywood boards and three of its four sides feature large windows.

The pale ply was left untreated on the interior but the exterior is blackened with pine tar – a sticky preservative used to weatherproof maritime structures – as a contrast to the pale grey stonework of the original house.

The black cladding folds away from the front of the structure to provide an entrance to a garage that is concealed in the base of the structure.

"On the last path before the earth falls away into the sea, a small country house is tucked into an embankment," said Ziegler.

"Inside, piles of books are stacked in every corner and recess. The rhythm of the day is marked by the turning of pages and punctuated by the comings and goings of the house cats."

"At the end of an impasse, on top of a cliff, at the end of the world. What better place to escape from the world, to create a space that allows thoughts to run wild?" he added.

A narrow passageway with glazed walls connects the timber-clad volume to the stone gable of the existing home.

The passage leads through from the kitchen, and arrives at the foot of a new staircase leading up to the first-floor library.

Books are shelved on floor-to-ceiling units constructed from pale plywood. The timber ribs of the building's structure slot between the shelves and extend across the ceiling, supporting another strip of shelving that hangs from the ceiling. The ribs also run between a series of windows on the opposite wall.

These form part of an L-shaped section of glazing that wraps one corner of the extension, providing views over the nearby village and the steeple of a church, while a smaller window is set into the rear wall to provide a view through the structure.

"Open on three sides, it is like a book opened onto the landscape," said the architect. "From it, we can perceive the village and the horizon along the sea below."

Rows of strip and pendant lighting hang from the timber ceiling, illuminating the large window at night – a feature the architect says draws attention into the extension and away from the house.

"Beyond simply providing a view for its inhabitants and offering a place for evasion, the space also creates a new image within the landscape," he said.

"The focus on this newly unveiled space creates a relationship that tends to make the existing house disappear."

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/antonin-ziegler-blackened-timber-reading-room-cliffs-impasse-northern-france-home-house-extension/feed/5Turato Architects raises Gumno House above the forest canopy of a Croatian islandhttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/turato-architects-holiday-home-pool-croatia-island-gumno-house/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/turato-architects-holiday-home-pool-croatia-island-gumno-house/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 07:00:04 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=671090A swimming pool on a "massive concrete cone" sits in front of this summer house, which has been elevated above the tree canopy of a Croatian island to offer views out to sea (+ slideshow). Croatian office Turato Architects designed the three-storey dwelling as a summer home for a couple and their two adult children on the forested island of Krk, which is situated […]

Croatian office Turato Architects designed the three-storey dwelling as a summer home for a couple and their two adult children on the forested island of Krk, which is situated in an inlet of the northern Adriatic Sea.

But once completed, the couple uprooted from their city home to take up permanent residence on the island, reserving their mainland home only for weekend breaks.

Named Gumno House, the property occupies the site of a disused gumno – an agricultural structure used for threshing grain that typically comprises a circular platform surrounded by a stone wall. The architects restored the gumno to create a garden folly that is used as an outdoor seating area.

"Gumnos were a place of labour, endeavour and care, and a framework for consistent and coherent social interaction," explained Turato Architects.

"[They] served as spaces for celebrating a high crop yield, as well as a meeting place where the locals made decisions on important issues that affected their community."

"It was decided that gumno, together with the circular dry stone wall, should be restored, and that the cultivated garden, driveway, orchard, and olive grove should become a kind of a contemporary park, a reanimated place where the family would meet with their guests, friends, and the locals of Risika," added the studio.

Project architects Idis Turato and Marko Liović decided to place the three-storey house at the back of the plot on highest part of the site – allowing it to be elevated above the gumno.

The cross-shaped plan of the upper storey creates four large boxy bay windows that survey the surrounding countryside and sea.

Three bedrooms and bathrooms occupy three branches of the cross, while a lounge is situated in the fourth arm that projects towards the sea.

Photograph by Sandro Lendler

A dormer window rises from the axis of the cross to light a stairwell at the core of the property. The steps descend to an open-plan living and dining area that occupies the entire middle floor, which is fronted by a large terrace.

The swimming pool occupies one corner of the elevated terrace, supported by the thick triangular column that the architects describe as a "massive concrete cone". This hollow structure provides the depth for the pool, but also houses a staircase.

A driveway encircles the base of the faceted concrete podium, while the terrace platform provides a shelter for the main entrance and a car parking space. Inside, a large cellar is used to store wine and oil, but functions as an entertainment space.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/31/turato-architects-holiday-home-pool-croatia-island-gumno-house/feed/5Crooked concrete wall divides Zurich building by Christian Kerez into semi-detached homeshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/house-with-one-wall-christian-kerez-zurich-building-pair-houses-concrete-partition/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/house-with-one-wall-christian-kerez-zurich-building-pair-houses-concrete-partition/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 12:43:00 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=671008A layer of glass envelopes this pair of homes in Zurich, while a zigzagging concrete partition between them is the only opaque wall in the building (+ slideshow). Named House with One Wall, the concrete and glass building was designed by Swiss architect Christian Kerez for a plot in Witikon, east of the city. Perched on a slope, it […]

A layer of glass envelopes this pair of homes in Zurich, while a zigzagging concrete partition between them is the only opaque wall in the building (+ slideshow).

Named House with One Wall, the concrete and glass building was designed by Swiss architect Christian Kerez for a plot in Witikon, east of the city. Perched on a slope, it offers residents views of nearby Lake Zurich.

The building features an elongated hexagonal floor plan, and all six of its elevations are wrapped in glazing. Inside, a zigzagging concrete wall divides the structure in half to create semi-detached homes for two families.

Kerez purposely conceived this concrete partition as the building's only opaque wall, lending the house its name.

"The dividing wall is the only wall in the entire house," explained the architect, who completed the project in 2007. "It cannot be crossed anywhere."

"It is the load-bearing structure and the installation core, its folds define all of the rooms and it determines how the view from the entirely glazed building is divided between the two living units," he added.

The course of the concrete wall changes from floor to floor, providing a variety of nooks and recesses on either side for kitchens, bathrooms and storage spaces. This arrangement allows service areas to be neatly tucked into the wall, leaving living spaces uncluttered.

The shape of the wall is reversed on each side, producing variations between the two residences – a concave space on one side corresponds with a protrusion on the other, widening and narrowing the floor plan at different points.

"The wall between the two units has folds in it so that it will not fall over, like folding a piece of paper so that it can stand on end," said Kerez, explaining how he devised the wall as both a separating and structural element.

"The folds are different from floor to floor. One room is concave, another convex. One room is open plan, another has sections."

Only the bathroom in each property is completely enclosed. There are no further partition walls and each floor consists of one long, open-plan room designed to take advantage of the views.

Concrete slabs are left exposed across the ceilings, floors and walls to create a pared-back aesthetic. The glass walls are interrupted only by slim white frames and drapes can be pulled along the glazing to provide varying degrees of privacy.

A tall enclosure surrounds the sloping plot, concealing the ground floor of each home and providing a small first floor garden on top of its walls. Two doors in the wall lead from the pavement into the two halves of the house.

Concrete staircases connect to the first-floor living area of each home, where glass doors slide back to provide access to the garden on top of the perimeter wall.

Staircases with open risers ascend through oblong openings in the concrete ceiling slab of the living room. The stairs follow the path of the wall, snaking from side to side through the core of the house on either side.

"The cascading staircase is the final and perhaps most important attempt to wrest spatial clarity and expansiveness from a very ordinary brief and a restricted plot of land," added the architect.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/house-with-one-wall-christian-kerez-zurich-building-pair-houses-concrete-partition/feed/10Paolo Carlesso clads Italian family house with cement panelshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/paolo-carlesso-italy-family-house-fibre-cement-panels-timber-steel-frame/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/paolo-carlesso-italy-family-house-fibre-cement-panels-timber-steel-frame/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 07:00:24 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=667829This family home near Milan features a partially exposed steel and timber frame modelled on the historical rural farm buildings in the surrounding area. Located in Fagnano Olona, a small village to the north-west of Milan, Casa CM was built between 2010 and 2014 by architect Paolo Carlesso as a home for his own family. The exterior of the […]

This family home near Milan features a partially exposed steel and timber frame modelled on the historical rural farm buildings in the surrounding area.

Located in Fagnano Olona, a small village to the north-west of Milan, Casa CM was built between 2010 and 2014 by architect Paolo Carlesso as a home for his own family.

The exterior of the house features a layer of rectangular panels made from a fibre cement. The panels, which are just one centimetre thick, are screwed onto a red pine substructure that is supported by a structural steel frame.

A number of the wooden elements have been left exposed around the outside of the building to improve ventilation and show the method of construction.

The architect wanted to design and build his own home as some of his relatives had done after his grandfather settled in the area in 1938.

Although he needed assistance pouring the foundation and installing the basic frame, Carlesso completed the rest of the construction work himself.

"I used inexpensive materials and in some cases reused wood discarded on other construction sites," said Carlesso. "The sincerity of construction is transmitted by the design."

In the interior, clay sifted from the soil on the site was used to coat some of the walls and floors.

The entrance to the home is located on the north side of the building. The front door opens onto a corridor, with a bathroom and study arranged on either side.

At the end of the entrance hall, steps lead down to an open-plan living space with an adjoining kitchen area.

In the rest of the house, white walls and sections of wood panelling are used to create private areas for different family members and a first-floor bathroom.

Gaps were left around some of the structural steel columns and beams to create the feeling of a single internal space.

"This will create internal ventilation in the summer," explained Carlesso. "At the top of the roof there are three windows which create an upward air flow."

The three floors are connected by a set of cement steps, each finished with a wooden surface. On the first floor, the steps lead onto a mezzanine area overlooking the living space below.

In order to maximise the use of natural light, the building is orientated so its longest side faces south, with a small overhang on the roof – an idea taken from the nearby farmstead buildings.

"The projection of the roof to the south in rural buildings is higher in order to shade the facade during the summer," explained Carlesso.

Surrounded by a larch timber pergola, a series of glass doors along this facade provides views into the garden from the living area. The clay floor accumulates heat from the sun to help keep the house warm in the evenings.

The house is built entirely from sustainable and locally sourced materials. "There was a necessity to use constructive ways that are sustainable, economic and require short labour," said Carlesso. "This has dictated all the design choices."

To construct the wooden frame without the use of adhesives or structural glues, the architect used a complex timber joining method designed to prevent the development of mould and condensation.

"Wood contributes to our living comfort by filtering and purifying the air inside the house and is a good thermal insulator," said Carlesso.

Carlesso's design was heavily influenced by the period of industrial development that took place near Milan at the beginning of the 20th century.

"Industrial buildings and the homes of employees formed the first expansion beyond the historical centre," said the architect.

"New materials such as steel and cement were used together with wood and brick according to operational and economic needs," he added. "There was a necessity to latch on to the history of this specific place."

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/30/paolo-carlesso-italy-family-house-fibre-cement-panels-timber-steel-frame/feed/8Japanese house hides a balcony and terrace behind tiered wallshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/29/circle-house-ripple-of-water-tsukuba-city-japan-kichi-architectural-design/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/29/circle-house-ripple-of-water-tsukuba-city-japan-kichi-architectural-design/#commentsSun, 29 Mar 2015 20:00:40 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=670336A tall white wall wraps around the base of this house in Tsukuba City, Japan, screening it from the street and creating the illusion of a triple-level structure (+ slideshow). Kichi Architectural Design designed the two-storey home for a couple and their three children in Tsukuba, a city 40 miles outside Tokyo. While the home has been given the name […]

A tall white wall wraps around the base of this house in Tsukuba City, Japan, screening it from the street and creating the illusion of a triple-level structure (+ slideshow).

Kichi Architectural Design designed the two-storey home for a couple and their three children in Tsukuba, a city 40 miles outside Tokyo. While the home has been given the name Circle House, it gives the impression of having three rectangular floors.

According to the architect, the name originates from the building's layered form, which is intended to represent the circular ripples that often appear on the surface of water.

"The facade imagined the threefold circle which floats on the surface of a river," explained studio founder Naoyuki Kikkawa. "The facade creates the image of three overlapping circles rising up from the expansive lawn."

The first wall encloses a narrow strip of land around the lower floor of the property, providing daylight while maintaining privacy from neighbouring buildings and the street.

The perimeter wall wraps the lower floor of the property on three sides but on the fourth side a strip of blackened timber marks the entrance. This is made from planks of red cedar that have been painted black to contrast with the white facade.

Wide oak steps lead up to two glazed walls, which concertina back to join the terrace with the living space.

Inside, oak floorboards that run in the opposite direction to the steps cover the living area, while traditional tatami matting is used to create the chequered floor of an elevated lounge.

The main kitchen unit and a sink for a ground floor bathroom and utility room are both made from wood covered in a screed of mortar to give the appearance of solid concrete fixtures.

"The framework for the kitchen is wooden," explained the architect. "Mortar has been painted on the surface."

A mortar-covered bench that is integrated into the wall along one side of the open-plan living space doubles as a step up to the elevated lounge.

"The interior blends a tatami-floored Japanese space with a modern-vintage space," said the architect.

A stainless steel extraction hood and sink are positioned at one end of the long kitchen island, while a dining area occupies the other.

Pendant lights with bell-shaped glass shades hang in a line over the breakfast bar. Two wooden benches that sit below the counter are made from Indonesian teak.

A flight of stairs with timber treads and black metal banisters leads to the upper level where the floorboards change from oak to pale pine. Bedrooms, bathrooms and closets sit around the edge of the stairwell behind white sliding doors.